Preventing Employee Litigation Part 1

Over the next two posts, we're going to provide 11 tips to help your contracting company hopefully prevent these types of lawsuits from ever happening.

How to protect yourself:

Below are 11 simple steps to help protect your company from employee-related lawsuits. Most of these recommended tactics were taken from a fantastic article written by Sheryl Halpern, an employment law specialist with Much Shelist.

Tactic 1: Learn to Communicate

Regular, candid communication with employees is essential for the working relationship to be effective and to prevent surprises that often lead to employee claims. This means (1) stating expectations through job descriptions, handbooks, and personnel meetings and (2) providing open, honest feedback through performance reviews.

Tactic 2: Educate the Workforce

Educating managers, supervisors, and rank-and-file employees is critical to avoiding workplace liabilities.

Management should be trained on responding if an employee brings a complaint to them, and employees should be educated on their rights. Educating employees on their rights is very important because they will have a much more difficult time asserting their rights were not respected or understood.

Tactic 3: Maintain Flexibility

While employers should treat similar cases similarly, they should remember that it is equally important to exercise discretion in appropriate circumstances. The key to success is striking the right balance between the two.

Tactic 4: Document, Document, Document

Documentation can mean the difference between a good defense and no defense at all. This means creating and maintaining thorough records of disciplinary and performance issues. Beware, however, that poor documentation may be worse than no documentation at all. Accordingly, employee records must be complete and accurate.

Tactic 5: Acknowledge Employee Concerns

This tactic is as simple as it sounds. Often, a manager doesn't need to act on an employee's concerns, as long as they validate them. Employees need to believe that they are being heard and that their opinions matter. Sometimes, just letting employees know their managers are listening is half the battle. And can avoid a battle down the road.

Tactic 6: Recognize and Reward Good Performance

It is essential to express appreciation to your employees for their work. A simple "thank you" can help an employee feel recognized and appreciated, and it improves morale, which will increase productivity and decrease claims.